First post - Rocket Engine

[qkasriel]

Hello folks! I am new here, and I'm planning on building a rocket engine. I have started doing research on the types of rocket engines, jet engines, cycles, types of engines, etc. Although, now I am looking for more 'applied' information. I am currently looking for how I need to design a rocket engine(dimensions, shape measurements, and all the other things I need to calculate). Does anyone have information about this?

I am excited to start working on my project! Thank you all. 

[racket]

Might be more productive searching out a rocketry club/association , theres not much info here , and with the multitude of rocket designs you'll need to be more specific about your project :-(

www.rocketreviews.com/list-rocketry-clubs-190929084846.html#:~:text=United%20States%20of%20America%201%20Tripoli%20Phoenix%20%28TRAPHX%29,Hopi%20Hawks%206%20Southern%20Arizona%20Rocketry%20Association%20%28SARA%29

Cheers
John

[qkasriel]

I would, but all of them are either too far away or dead. Do you have any other solutions to were I should look? (Btw, will be making a bipropellent engine)

[racket]

Have you simply tried getting info off the Net ?

What searches have you tried /found ?

Can you give Links to the type of thing you are looking at building ?

With more info we might be able to help .

Cheers
John

[barnyard]

Hi Qkasriel, I’ve had this link saved for a long time, just incase I find the time and ambition to build a sugar based rocket. Richard Nakka’s site has excellent info on his development of solid fuel hobby rockets. Might be what your looking for.

www.nakka-rocketry.net/kappa.html#top

James

[nicenozzle]

We're not talking liquid oxygen here right? Bi-propellent engines are really expensive for one shot, but if that kind of insanity is what you're looking for, make some PVC sugar rockets if you haven't yet first, should be a day in the garage, max, probably have the materials lying around anyway.

Beyond that, they aren't too complicated unless you're trying to make a reusable one, in which case I'm not sure there really is a resource to use, more just experimentation. Sigma aldritch might be a good source for some oxidizers just be careful of local laws especially on that side of the rocket, they're also wildly expensive, so maybe stick to simpler oxidizers.

I wouldn't want to try gas propellent or oxidizers on this, complicates things a lot, as if this wasn't a chemistry rabbit hole already.

This place seems full of physics geeks, but chemistry is far and few between, which will be 80% of your work, I wish you the best of luck in the 5 seconds of absolute euphoria a bipropellent rocket will bring you, and do your best not to get arrested, governments don't look to highly on projects that imitate their militaries lol

[britishrocket]

Whereabouts in the world are you? The problem with building a bipropellant engine these days in the UK is that the British Government have effectively banned nitrous oxide, which is or rather was the easiest available oxidiser for a bipropellant engine project. They haven't banned it outright, however they have created so much legislation to prevent the "recreational" use of nitrous oxide that no stockist of cylinders now wants to sell it to hobbyist users. It simply isn't worth their while or the risk involved to their business if something goes wrong. Not only that, due to our terrorist friends in hot countries, the law around conspiracy to cause explosions has also been tightened up to an extent where the design and construction of rocket engines, and possessing/storing fuels and oxidisers has become a bit of a grey area. Although what you are up to is most likely completely innocent experimentation and amateur engineering endeavour, it may well not be looked upon as such by local law enforcement who do not understand the motivation to engage in such activities, and assume the worst.

If you must continue and build a bipropellant engine, the best thing you could do would be to go for liquid fuel (say isopropanol) and gaseous oxygen as the oxidiser. You can get a cylinder of gaseous oxygen for welding from BOC for example, but you need to have an account.

Literature wise I would look at Risacher's guide "How To Design, Build and Test Liquid Fuelled Rocket Engines" and get yourself a copy of "Rocket Propulsion Elements" by Sutton. Risacher's guide is downloadable from various places. Try to get an early addition of Sutton; they include far more practical information, as early rocket engineering was not too far removed from nowadays amateur efforts.

I would also advise you to get a copy of "Modern Engineering for the Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines" by Huzel and Huang. This is available for download on the NASA Technical Reports Server as NASA SP-125. There are lots of articles on rocket engine construction on the NASA TRS, the early ones are better as they are more like what you'd do yourself. In the UK The Aeronautical Research Council reports are generally available from the website of Cranfield University, if memory serves. There are rocket engine related bits in there too.

Lastly, be careful and ensure you know EXACTLY what you are doing. Another word for rocket engine is bomb.